Zaluzhnyi Construes the Wiretap Found in His Office as a War

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine that he construes the wiretap found in his office “as a war”. According to him, the wiretap devices were found not only in his office, but also in the offices of his staff. Mr. Zaluzhnyi added that the premise where the device was found was not his permanent office, but only one of the places where the chief minister worked. “This room has been used before. But the break was quite significant. So apparently, they were preparing for my meeting,” he said in response to a question about whether state secrets could have been said in this office. When asked by a journalist whether it could have been done by someone from the General Staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi said: “No, we haven’t been working with wiretap for a long time. Everything is possible. The investigation will get to the truth.” Yesterday, 17 December, sources of RBC-Ukraine and Ukrainska Pravda reported that wiretap devices were found in the office of Chief General Zaluzhnyi and his staff. The SSU reported that device was found “not directly in Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s office, but in one of the premises that could be used by him for work in the future”. According to the service, the device was in an inoperable state. The SSU pursued proceedings under the article on the illegal acquisition, sale or use of special technical means of obtaining information (part 2 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Since November, there has been a conflict between the offices of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and AFU commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, provoked by the commander-in-chief’s article in The Economist magazine. In it, he expressed the opinion that the situation on the frontline in the zone of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict “has reached a deadlock”. Volodymyr Zelensky disagreed with the commander-in-chief’s opinion. On 2 December, the “Rating” group reported that the trust in the AFU commander-in-chief was 82%, in Mr. Zelensky - 72%.